I never thought to hear you speak again.—Thy wish was father, Harry, to that thought.
[1597-8 Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 2 iv. v. 93]
My ‘wish is father to the thought’.
[1783 P. Van schaack Letter 5 Jan. in H. C. Van Schaack Life (1842) 321]
The wish might be father to the thought‥but the thought was truly there.
[1860 Trollope Framley Parsonage III. xiv.]
She spied a smallish man‥walking away from us. The wish was father to the thought. ‘Ah, there is Lord Ripon,’ she said. ‥He turned round. It wasn't Lord Ripon at all.
[1940 E. F. Benson Final Edition iii.]
Somewhere in that area of the human mind where the wish is father to the thought activity was taking place.
[1980 A. T. Ellis Birds of Air (1983) 40]
The wish is father to the thought, and that timeless truism fits federal judges like a glove.
[1988 Washington Times 13 Jan. A 13]
Related to: wanting and having
Bibliography of major proverb collections and works cited from modern editions is available here.
